CDSCO Drug Alerts — NSQ & Spurious Drug List
CDSCO publishes new Not-of-Standard-Quality (NSQ) and spurious drug alerts every month. Search the official source below for a drug, manufacturer, or batch — always live, never out of date.
Opens an official-source search so you always see the latest published alerts.
Official live sources
The official, regularly updated list of drugs that failed quality testing.
CDSCO — Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation →India's national drug regulator. Notifications, recalls, and approvals.
Report a suspected spurious or substandard medicine →Tell CDSCO and your State Drug Controller if you find a suspect product.
A recall only helps if you can identify the pack
By the time a batch is flagged, it's already on shelves. FirstScanIt lets a manufacturer pull a specific batch in real time — and lets a patient scan a pack to see instantly whether it's been recalled or is genuine.
See Real-Time Batch RecallWhat Does "NSQ" Mean?
"Not of Standard Quality" (NSQ) means a drug sample failed one or more quality tests at a government laboratory — it does not necessarily mean the drug is deliberately fake. "Spurious" or "adulterated" alerts are more serious and indicate counterfeiting or contamination. CDSCO and state drug controllers publish these alerts monthly so pharmacists and the public can stop using affected batches.
Common Reasons a Drug Is Flagged NSQ
- Failed dissolution or disintegration test (the medicine doesn't release properly)
- Failed assay / potency (too little or too much active ingredient)
- Failed uniformity of content or weight
- Impurities or degradation products above the permitted limit
- Microbial contamination or failed sterility test
What to Do If Your Medicine Is on an Alert
Stop using the specific batch number named in the alert — alerts are batch-specific, so other batches of the same brand may be fine. Keep the packaging, inform your pharmacist, and report adverse effects to your doctor or to CDSCO. If you suspect a counterfeit (not just a quality failure), run our Counterfeit Risk Checker.
Why We Link Out Instead of Listing Drugs Here
Drug alerts change every month. A static list copied onto this page would quickly go stale and could wrongly reassure you that a recalled medicine is "safe." Instead we send you straight to the official, always-current CDSCO source — the only list you should trust for a safety decision.
Related
For international recalls see the WHO Medical Product Alerts, and to check medicine pricing see the NPPA Medicine Price Checker.